France remains on high alert after a string of jihadist attacks since 2015 that have claimed the lives of 246 people.

On its propaganda channel Amaq, IS claimed the Trappes killer “carried out the attack in response to calls to target subjects of the countries of the coalition” fighting the jihadists.

The group claimed responsibility for a massacre in Las Vegas last year that saw a wealthy accountant kill 58 concert-goers in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.

But US investigators concluded there was “no evidence of radicalisation or ideology to support any theory that (Stephen) Paddock supported or followed any hate group or any domestic or foreign terrorist organisation”.

French terror expert Jean-Charles Brisard, head of the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT), said it was “too soon to say” if IS had a hand in the violence in Trappes.

“But remember that in 2017 we had three claims of responsibility that were outlandish by Islamic State… above all the massacre in Las Vegas,” he told AFP.

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